Eyeleting machines for wire terminal forming



e vi July 26, 1960 R. D. DEXTER 2,946,358

EYELETING MACHINES FOR WIRE TERMINAL FORMING Filed June 19, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Inventor R. D. DEXTER July 26, 1960 EYEILETING MACHINES FOR WIRE TERMINAL FORMING Filed June 19, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 [111/ entor Richard D. Dexzer United States Patent EYELETING MACHINES FOR WIRE TERMINAL FORMING Richard D. Dexter, Beverly, Mass, assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Boston, Mass., a corporation of New Jersey Filed June 19, 1957, Ser. No. 666,621

5 Claims. (Cl. 1153-11) This invention relates to the art of applying eyelet type connectors to the ends of electrical wire conductors, and more particularly to the secure attachment of such a connector to form an electrical conductor terminal on the end of a multiple strand wire conductor.

Examples, illustrating the present manner of applying eyelet-type terminal connectors, are disclosed in several United States patents, including the following: Patent No. 1,677,968, W. Hughes; Patent No. 2,296,983, Cooper et al.; and Patent No. 2,530,575, S. L. Gookin. As disclosed in the above patents, it heretofore has been customary first to form an eye or loop on the end portion of the wire connector, then to insert an eyelet barrel within the preformed loop and finally to upset the eyelet barrel, so that it is progressively split longitudinally, each split portion being deflected by an eyelet setting anvil member outward and upward to embrace the wire strands of the loop and to clench the wire between the eyelet flange and the upset barrel portions. Another manner of forming such a connector is disclosed in US. Patent No. 2,756,802, S. L. Gookin, whereby the wire loop is formed by first splitting a single section of the barrel and clenching it around an end portion of the conductor wire, then rotating the eyelet a sufiicient amount to cause the wire to form a Wrapped loop about the barrel, whereupon the rest of the barrel is upset to embrace the wire of the loop. Although the above semiautomatic machines have been provided with means for form-ing the end or loop to be embraced by the upset portions of an eyelet barrel, in each instance special machinery was required to form the end of the wire into a loop, and special attention was necessary on the part of the operator in order to present the proper portion of the wire end to the loop forming machinery. Therefore these prior machines were not only costly but required expert handling on the part of the machine operator.

Another ditliculty heretofore encountered was that the eyelet connector terminal thus attached, if not subsequently subjected to a dip soldering operation, had a tendency to pull out readily from the conductor wire if the latter were tensioned after the terminal had been secured to a fixed electrical mounting, such as a binding post. This disadvantageous tendency is due to the fact that the Wire is wrapped to form the loop in only one direction and, therefore, as a tensioning pull is exerted on the conductor, there is a unidirectional force tending to unwrap the wire or to rotate the eyelet. Substantially all of this force is concentrated upon the first split portion of the eyelet barrel that embraces the wire. This portion which is nearest in the direction of the tensioning pull, will become unclenched and then the next adjacent split barrel portion will be subjected to the same concentration of force tending to unwind the wrapped loop of wire; thus the holding power of the terminal is progressively weakened until the wire is completely pulled out from the eyelet.

One of the objects of the present invention is to pro- Patented July 26, 1960 2 vide an inexpensive device that may be applied to any eyeleting machine, for forming a wire conductor end into a curved bight or divided loop through which an eyelet barrel may be inserted and then clenched upon the strands of the wire.

Another object is to provide novel means for applying an eyelet-type connector to forma wire terminal of greatly increased holding power, and of such a formation that the above-described rotative force tending to unwrap the wire from around the eyelet is eliminated, by so dividing any tensioning pull upon the wire conductor that the forces are evenly distributed in both direotions around the split portions of the upset barrel.

Another object of the invention is to provide means whereby relatively heavy stranded conductor wires having increased wire diameters may be clenched satisfactorily by using much smaller eyelets than could be clenched around the same wire if the wire end or loop were formed by heretofore known means.

A further object of the invention is to provide a machine that requires no expert handling of the wire on the part of the operator when presenting the end of the wire to the operation of the machine.

In addition -to the foregoing advantages of my novel invention the mechanism is so designed that, at the completion of the clenching operation, the finished wire terminal is ejected upward to strip or free it from the confines of the lower set die and the associated pilot spindle which, at the completion of an eyelet set, have a tendency to bind against the finished terminal and thus hamper its removal from the machine.

Another feature of the invention is that the wire strands that are curved around the pilot spindle are adequately confined within the radial limits of the eyelet flange so that in the upsetting of the barrel portion and the clenching operation every strand of wire is gathered inward by the split portions of the barrel as they are curled outward and upward around the strand.

Another advantageous feature which is attained by my novel means of forming the connector terminal is that the finished terminal is substantially thinner or flatter in heightwise cross section than would be the case if the same eyelet and wire had been clenched by previously known means. This is a particular advantage when it is desired to mount a number of terminals in superimposed relation upon a single binding post.

The above and other advantageous features of this invention will be more fully understood and appreciated when considered with the following detailed description in connection with the drawings, and will be pointed out further in the claims.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a portion of an eyelet inserting machine provided with my novel wire terminal attaching means;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view showing the details of the means for forming a divided loop on the end of a wire;

Figs. 3 and 4 are top plan views of my invention showing the progressive stages by which a divided loop is manually formed on the end of the wire;

Figs. 5 and 6 are side elevational views, partly in section, showing the progressive stages by which an eyelet is automatically inserted through the loop and finally clenched to form a terminal connector in accordance with the invention;

Fig. 7 is a top plan view, partially in section, showing a clenched terminal when viewed along the section line VII-VII of Fig. 6; and

Fig. 8 is a view of a completed terminal as viewed from the bottom or opposite side from that illustrated in Fig. 7.

Referring to the drawings, and particularly to Figs. 1 and 2, the invention is illustrated as embodied in an eyelet setting machine of a well known type whereby the eyelets are set by pressure applied axially upon each eyelet while positioned between two relatively movable anvils in the form ofset dies. Due to the well known construction of such machines, whether manual or power operated, only so much of the machine has been illustrated, and will be described hereinafter, as is necessary for an understanding of the present invention. A re ciprocating plunger rod 10, journaled through a forward portion of the machine frame 12, is driven in a vertical path by any suitable power means or by a foot treadle. The rod 10 has secured to its lower end an upper set cap assembly 14 provided with a coaxially disposed spindle 16' which is retractably mounted in the assembly. The eyelets to be set or clenched to the end of the conductor wire are supplied by means of a raceway, the lower end of which is illustrated as 18. When in the at rest position of the machine the upper set cap assembly is elevated so that the lower end of the spindle 16, which is spring biased to protrude downward beyond the anvil surface of the upper set cap assembly 14, is above the level of the raceway end, and the spindle is in axial alinement with the barrel of the endmost eyelet E in the bottom of the raceway. Upon actuation of the machine, the spindle 16 descends and enters the barrel of the eyelet E. While the eyelet is thus impaled by the spindle, the raceway is retracted to one side to strip the endmost eyelet from the raceway and to clear the path for the further descent of the spindle which then carries the eyelet downward to place the lower end of the eyelet barrel in contact with a lower set die having an annular upsetting anvil 20 above which protrudes a pilot pin 22 for centering the eyelet during the setting operation. The anvil 20 is rigidly affixed to a frame portion of the machine, and the front of the pilot pin 22 is formed with tapered surfaces 24, 24, which at their common junction provide a sharp vertical knife-like edge 26 facing the operators position.

The lower anvil member 29 is closely confined within a coaxial sleeve 23 that is spring biased, by a spring 39, so that it normally extends a substantial distance above the clenching surface of the anvil, as illustrated in Fig. 2. This sleeve 28 is relieved at its upper forward face pro-- viding an opening 32. through which the bared end of a stranded wire W may be manually inserted to impinge endwise against the sharp edge 26. The downwardly yieldable sleeve 28 is attached to the anvil member 24 by a screw headed pin 34 passing through a longitudinal guide slot 36 in the wall of the sleeve, thus permitting the sleeve normally to be projected upward by the spring 30 so as to provide a con-fining wall around the anvil 20 and its associated pilot pin 22. However, as the upper set die 14 approaches the lower anvil 210 during the perative stroke of the plunger rod 10, the die 14 abuttingly engages the upper rim of the sleeve 28 to depress the sleeve against the force of the spring 30, Figs. and 6. Also, during the approach of the dies 14, 20, the pilot pin 22 engages the lower end of the yieldable spindle 16 causing the latter to become progressively retracted to within the die assembly 14 so that the eyelet barrel is transferred from its impaled relation upon the spindle 16 to a similar relation upon the pilot pin 22 which then acts to center the eyelet and, in conjunction with the anvil surface 20, to cause the barrel portions to be split and deflected outward and upward against the inner wall of the confining sleeve 28.

In order to form a connector terminal in accordance with the present invention, the bared end of a multistranded electrical conductor wire is presented, by the operator, to the machine in the following manner. With the machine in the at rest position, the bared end of the wire is placed through the space 32 of the sleeve 23 and is pressed endwise against the sharp edge 26 of the pilot pin, Figs. 2 and 3, so that substantially half of the wire strands-are disposed at either side'of the edge 26. The wire is then pressed endwise against the pin causing the edge and the tapered surfaces 24-, 24, to divide the strands into two groups which are progressively deflected in diverging paths, Fig. 4, until the respective ends of the strands engage the inner wall of the confining sleeve 28, whereupon the ends are deflected or curved progressively into a converging path to form a divided loop substantially surrounding the pilot pin 22.

Having thus first formed the loop or curved bight on the end of a conductor wire, the machine is then actuated to insert an eyelet barrel through the loop in the conventional manner. As the lower lip of the eyelet barrel is forced down over the pin 22, and before the barrel commences to be split apart, the lip of the eyelet enters between the pilot pin and the lop. It is to be noted in the illustrations of Figs. 5, 6 and8, that the preformed flange portion F of the eyelet is provided with a diameter sufficient to overlie a portion of the rim of the sleeve 28, so that the diameters of both the annular lower anvil and the bore of the sleeve 28' are less than that of the flange portion F. As a consequence thereof, as the barrel of the eyelet is progressively split and curled upward to be finally clenched under the flange, the strands of wire which form the divided loop are all confined, by the inner sleeve wall, to an over all diameter smaller than that of the eyelet flange. Therefore, as the split portions of the barrel embrace the strands and are clenched against the lower surface of the flange F, the individual wire strands are tightly confined, Fig. 8, to a Zone well within the diameter of the finished connector terminal.

From the foregoing description of the manner by which the conductor terminal is formed, and from a consideration of the finished terminals, Figs. 6, 7 and 8, it will be readily perceived that, as above related, any tensioning force applied to the wire W tending to pull the wire free from the clenched eyelet will be evenly divided in both directions around the split barrel portions, thus substantially doubling the holding power of the eyelet upon the strands of wire.

It is also obvious that if the wire for forming the divided loop is properly divided on either side of the loop, fewer strands need be embraced by any given portion of the eyelet and therefore a much tighter clench can be obtained. This feature results not only in far greater holding power per strand but in a much thinner finished connector.

It is to be noted that the flange F, Fig. 6, overlies the rim of the sleeve 28 sufficiently so that, upon the return upward of the upper set die 14, the spring 30 will lift the rim of the sleeve 28 to its normal position above the anvil 20, thereby carrying the finished connector upward to a position where it can readily be withdrawn from the machine.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A device for pre-forrning a divided loop on the end of a multi-strand electrical conductor wire comprising: an upstanding spindle provided with a pair of contiguous sides tapered to form a sharply defined longitudinal front edge against which the end of the wire may be advanced to divide the strands into two groups that progressively diverge as the strand ends pass rearwards beyond said edge; and deflecting means engageable with said divided ends beyond said spindle sides to bend and guide the ends of each group into converging paths, said means comprising a concaved Wall surface spaced apart from but surrounding the rearward portion of the spindle.

2. In a machine for forming an eyelet-type connector terminal on the end of a multi-stranded electrical conductor wire, the combination which comprises: a pair of relatively movable eyelet setting dies operatively disposed in axial alinement with one another for upsetting and clenching an eyelet upon actuation of the machine; and means associated with one of said dies for preforming a divided loop on said end of wire prior to the actuation of the machine; said means including a co-axialsleeve memher closely surrounding said one die except for an opening through the sleeve for the insertion of the wire end, and a concentrically located pilot spindle provided with a sharpened longitudinal edge portion facing said sleeve opening, said edge portion being adapted to act as a wedge for dividing the wire into two groups of strands when axially advanced thereagainst and to deflect the groups into diverging paths until the strand ends of the respective groups engage the inner Wall of the sleeve member, whereupon each group is re-deflected by said wall into respectively converging paths until a divided loop is formed around the pilot spindle and adjacent the inner wall of said sleeve member.

3. A machine as defined in claim 2 wherein said sleeve member normally projects axially beyond the said one die in the direction of the other die, and wherein said sleeve is resiliently supported to yield upon abutting engagement by said other die.

4. An eyelet inserting machine adapted to form a connector terminal on the bared end of a multi-stranded electrical Wire conductor, comprising: a pair of cooperative setting dies relatively movable toward one another for clenching an eyelet around a loop formed on the end of a conductor wire; a pilot spindle extending beyond one of said dies and concentrically disposed longitudinally with respect to both dies, said spindle having a sharply defined longitudinal edge formed by the junction of two tapered side portions, said edge and side portions acting to divide the end of the wire axially into two groups of strands, when advanced thereagainst, and to deflect both groups into diverging paths past the spindle; and means engageable with the ends of both groups, when advanced beyond the spindle, for re-deflecting the ends into converging paths so as to form a divided loop of wire strands around the spindle.

5. A device for pro-forming a divided loop on the end of a multi-stranded electrical conductor Wire comprising: an upstanding spindle provided with a pair of contiguous sides tapered to form a sharply defined longitudinal edge; and a cylindrical sleeve member coaxial with and surrounding said spindle in spaced apart relation thereto, said sleeve member having an opening through the wall of the sleeve directly in front of the spindle edge for the insertion of the end of said wire.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 150,471 Higgins May 5, 1874 2,296,983 Cooper et a1. Sept. 29, 1942 2,439,465 Gookin Apr. 13, 1948 2,452,734 Costelow Nov. 2, 1948 2,461,994 Merkel Feb. 15, 1949 2,715,764 Pierce Aug. 23, 1955 2,802,257 Holtzapple Aug. 13, 1957 

